[This Article has been authored by Saloni Rani, a student at Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, Punjab.]

Introduction

Marriage, according to the Hindu Marriage Law, is a sacramental union between two souls. But this layman’s understanding of marriage has, in the contemporary era, taken another shape, evolving towards selfishness, materialistic and monetary beneficial union. The author seeks to critically analyze this ambit of Non-resident Indians marriages (“NRI”) from the viewpoint of Punjab. These marriages function as transactional arrangements where the NRI person visits the country for marriage, with local customs and traditions. Parents often aspire to marry their daughter to an NRI man in lieu of a better future, monetary security and international exposure. Some parents are in favour of settlement abroad and think that once their daughter settles outside, she will sponsor her siblings and parents. In consideration of these marriages, parents pay a high sum of money in the form of dowry to the groom. But these marriages are not merely confined to dowry but also raise serious concerns over the dignity and life of the bride, which will be brought to light in this piece. Thus, the NRI marriages in Punjab have taken a starkly different picture, which raises various seminal questions, which this piece shall analyze. Firstly, highlighting the concept of NRI marriages, including the undue influence and fraudulent inducement of brides, secondly, the critical analysis of legislations governing this scenario and thirdly, recommendations which could enhance the current position of marriage in the state. 

Marriage or Migration Contract?

Punjab has witnessed one of the largest numbers of international migrants of youth. This inspiration to settle abroad is quite visible in the increasing migration of marriages. These marriages are more inclined towards visa, documentation and dowry, embodying symbols of success, stability and global mobility rather than symbols of respect and sacrament. This union is like a contract: sponsoring the immigration visa of the bride in consideration of dowry to the groom.  

This marriage is not as simple as it seems. Sometimes, an NRI groom is already married in his country and comes to India only for monetary benefits or physical needs. Certainly, there is no mechanism or central database to assess whether the man is married or not. After their greed is fulfilled and innocent native families are burdened with debt, they run away to their original families. This is primarily done in two ways: either the passports and visas of innocent brides are falsely presented by the groom, and they show some technical and documentation errors while going back with the bride, or they misplace the above documents. It has a grave impact on the bride and her family, leaving them with no legal recourse.  

Although the legislations like the Special Marriage Act, 1954 (“SMA”) and Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 (“HMA”), apply in the case, these remain as piecemeal legislation with no particular provision related to inter-country marriage. As far as penal provisions are concerned, Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (“BNS”) takes a major front. There are specific provisions under the act to address deceitful marriages and induced cohabitation, but they often get delayed or are impossible once the NRI spouse leaves the country.  

Legal Lacuna: Analyse NRI Marriage Legislations

The judiciary has also acknowledged this lacuna by delivering judgments to protect vulnerable brides. The apex court in Y. Narasimha Rao v. Y. Venkata Lakshmi ruled that foreign decrees obtained by couples without any due process are not binding in the country. Interrelating it with the topic at hand, if an NRI marries a spouse in India, leaving her behind to settle again in her prior marital status abroad, he cannot litigate and divorce her outside Indian jurisdiction. She can file a suit against him for the offence of bigamy and seek maintenance.  

Yet, the long, burdensome litigation is a very tough gateway which cannot be opened by the majority of vulnerable families. Thereby, the ground problem remains the same. On the other hand, if this entire situation is viewed through the lens of the National Commission for Women NRI Cell, it remains largely reactive rather than preventive in nature. The vulnerable party can only approach the commission after the incident has happened. Furthermore, Punjab has attempted to address this situation through the Punjab State Commission for the , which is a statutory body to investigate grievances related to NRI matters, including matrimonial disputes. But this has only advisory capacity, exposing the harsh reality in preventing vulnerable spouses in the state.  

Thereby, despite repeated judicial concerns and commissions, India lacks any dedicated statutory framework. Under HMA, the registration of marriage is not compulsory, which prevents the registry from having a centralised database of marriages in the nation. These provisions also extend to NRI marriages, due to which presently, India does not have a provision for mandatory registration of their marriages, which opens the pathway for fraud and misrepresentation. Thereby, the NRI people always search for jurisdictions with lenient laws to get a ruling in their favour. This vacuum, thus led to forum shopping and jurisdictional fragmentation.  

Recommendations

To reduce this fraudulent practice, this piece recommends some amendments for the regulation of these marriages. Firstly, there must be mandatory registration of NRI marriages, which shall disclose passport details, marital history and visa status. Secondly, the established commission shall be vested with quasi-judicial powers beyond merely advisory capacity. This will ensure a speedy mechanism for the adjudication of these matters and provide justice to vulnerable brides. Thirdly, expressions like “inter-country marriage” must be expressly defined in statute to prevent ambiguity in the governance of NRI marriages. 

In order to prevent fraud and forum-shopping, the registry shall adopt blockchain based technology empowered with time-stamped transactions on ledger, which shall jointly be maintained by Marriage Registry officers, Registrar General of India and foreign consultants. This blockchain-based architecture will ensure the maintenance of an adequate database without any malpractice by any officer unlike conventional databases. This will ensure the proper stimulation of the database and eliminate corruption in the system. Further, this system will also enable verification from the international Jurisprudence binding the hands of fraudsters to original documents. Bilateral cooperation between countries through this centralised blockchain database shared bilaterally will prevent fraudsters from escaping the legislative statute.

These reforms will collectively recalibrate these marriages from a bunch of fraudulent arrangements between spouses. This will prevent vulnerable families from monetary losses. In furtherance of this, families themselves should not be greedy to promote inter-country marriages in lieu of a better future. This is the gap which is exploited by NRI grooms. The marriage is a sacramental union which should only be tied after verification of groom status from his native relatives. These small steps could save the life of a girl. Thus, by strengthening institutional oversight and legal frameworks, economic exploitation of brides and forum shopping could be significantly reduced. 

Conclusion

This transformation of marriage from the sacred union to the migration contract represents one of the troubling situations in our understanding of marital arrangements. These marriages expose the brides to unbearable risk driven by the family’s aspiration for international mobility. The present frameworks e.g. HMA, SMA and BNS fail to specifically address these cross-border matrimonial contracts. Non-registration of marriage along with absence of any centralised database further, deepen this vacuum. While Judicial pronouncement has tried to address this gap, it remains devoid of any legislative step to directly counter this matrimonial fraud. Although commissions and NRI cells have been well-established to tackle this situation, it remains inadequate with limited power. To fill this lacunae, certain recommendations have been proposed which if adopted with proper scrutiny can solve the issue. India has technological capability to address the situation by adopting blockchain technology and bilateral database systems. Finally, families need to understand the vulnerability of these marriages.